Feb 25, 2017

Stop Worrying, Trust in God (8th Sunday Ordinary A)

I used to worry a lot. I was always on my toes and was often nervous. I was worried about what others would think of me, most especially, the ones whose opinion I deemed important in my life foremost of whom was my father. I was anxious about measuring up to expectations and worried that I might fall short.  This basic fear of not being appreciated or loved because of the feeling that even my best was not good enough spawned a lot more forms of useless worrying that made me quite unhappy.

But everything has changed.  The change all started when God became real to me—when I learned that what matters most is how God sees me, when I began to trust in God rather than in my own creativity, when I realized that God embraces me still lovingly even when I am at my worst.  Allowing God to be God of my life has given me tremendous peace of mind and joy in my heart. Indeed, there’s no use worrying when God is one’s refuge and fortress, God, in whom one trusts (Ps 91:2).

Today’s readings affirm my own journey to freedom.  With confidence, I extend to all with open minds and hearts the invitation of our Lord in today’s Gospel reading:  STOP WORRYING. TRUST IN GOD. Our readings offer us three assurances that free us from our worthless anxieties:

Stop worrying because God never forgets. The people of Israel were suffering in exile during the Babylonian captivity. They were losing hope and were ready to concede that God has abandoned them as recounted in our first reading (Is 49:14-15): Zion said: “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” But through the prophet Isaiah, God spoke his assurance: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

God somehow is compared here to a mother.  A mother always cares for her child. But still a mother’s love may fail sometimes. We experience this failure more and more in our contemporary culture of death, when millions of mothers reject the baby in their womb. Then God assures us that even if a mother’s love fails, his love never fails. God never forgets his people.

When we experience being forgotten or unrecognized, we naturally worry about pleasing significant others in order to catch their attention. Worse, when we are abandoned by people who ought to care for us, we live day by day in insecurity, fear, and even anger. Today, God offers us freedom.  He assures us that He has not forgotten us. He cannot abandon us. Our names are etched in his palm.

Stop worrying. Seek the Lord. Open your heart to God. He has never forgotten you.

Stop worrying because God always provides.  In this consumerist society we have now, we worry a lot about material amenities in life. We worry even about things we actually do not need but want.  So we work like a horse not because we enjoy it but because we worry about many things.  Or even if we are not really materialistic, we still worry that we might not have the things we need to support ourselves and our family.  Hence, many are tempted or misled to serve mammon rather than God.

Jesus assures us in today’s gospel reading (Mt. 6:24-34) that God always provides. So he invites us to stop worrying.  Nature shows indubitable evidences of God’s sustaining care for the birds, the grass, flowers, etc.  We have to accept that we are far more important to God than these.  We are his children in Christ; He ensures all the more that we have what we need.
This assurance, however, does not encourage indolence or irresponsibility. Let us remember that the Lord praises the responsible steward. The Lord does not say “stop working.”  What he says is “stop worrying;” stop enslaving yourselves to your material pursuit to the point of ignoring God.  Only the non-believers worry for provisions in life because they do not believe in God. But we continue to work and plan for our present needs and that of the future without worrying.  Let us trust in the providence of God.  God surely brings our labor into fruition.

Stop worrying because God sees the goodness in your heart.  We worry about what people say of us; we stressfully live up to other’s high expectations of us. We worry about proving ourselves to others—that we are good or we are the best. We worry because we crave for the approving pat on our shoulders. We worry because we have come to believe that what others say of me matters most.

St. Paul, in the second reading (1 Cor 4:1-5), testifies that he does not worry about what other say of him: “It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself; I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord” (v. 3-4).  For St. Paul, what matters to him is how God sees his heart. He believes that the Lord “manifests the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God” (v. 5).

Hence, we can stop worrying about what people say of us. Let us be good. Let us be good even if nobody gives us a pat on the back or even if others may maliciously misinterpret our goodness.  Let us be good and not worry. God sees the goodness in our hearts. This is what matters.   

Again, we can drastically improve the quality of our lives through the secret that Jesus has revealed to us:  STOP WORRYING. TRUST IN GOD.






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